Zoe Rahman (solo piano)Recorded at The Church Studios, London N8, Oct 26th 2015

Having been mightily impressed with her recent short solo performance at the latest Jazz in the Round concert at The Cockpit Theatre, I relished the opportunity to review Rahman’s latest album.

Recording an album without the safety net of a rhythm section or a solo partner to bounce ideas off can be quite a daunting prospect. In Dreamland, the first album where she flies completely solo, the award-winning pianist rises to the challenge magnificently.

Each track is a little gem. None clocks in at over five minutes, the shortest, “Zantastic”, a fantastic boogie-delicious original just four seconds proud of a minute. Indeed, this 50-minute/14-track album demonstrates conclusively that music need not be of Wagnerian proportions to get to the heart of the matter. It also demonstrates the depth of Rahman’s musical heart and soul and the greatness of her piano chops.

Rahman’s classical piano technique was honed at The Royal Academy of Music, she got a music degree at Oxford and went on to win a scholarship to study jazz at Berklee. Here, her mentor was the estimable Joanne Brackeen, a two-fisted innovative pianist who has clearly exerted a considerable influence on the British/Bengali virtuoso. If “Zantastic” is a little Brackeenish, many of her originals (nine of the fourteen tracks are self-penned) recall the surging energy and elemental power of McCoy Tyner.

The album begins with a bang with the Tyneresque “Red Squirrel” which morphs into a Cecil Taylorish free form interlude before the main themes’s recapitulation. “J-Burg” is similarly Tyner-inspired whilst “The Calling” is a restless and breathless finger-busting opus reminiscent of the rhythmic punch and harmonic sophistication of Chick Corea.

“Fast Asleep” is a lovely lullaby, replete with malleable harmonies redolent of the romantic side of Ellington. But it’s Ellington with a distinctly modern touch.

Rahman is clearly a fan of the Duke (the upward trajectory of the tune’s opening reminds me somewhat of his “In a Sentimental Mood” and she later gives us a beautiful rendition of Ellington’s “The Single Petal of a Rose”). Zoe takes us on a spiritual journey back to her roots in “Kar Milono Chao Birohi by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, its deep dark drones and melismatic melodic fragments conjuring up mystical images of the East. Rahman delves into the bowels of the piano in Jessica Williams’ funky “The Sheikh” with its telling “So What” call and response passages. The mood lightens in that old chestnut, “These Foolish Things”, the relaxed slow stride becoming distinctly more bluesy as we get closer to the finishing line. Abdullah Ibrahim’s “Sunset in Blue” rocks with joyous South African vigour whilst you can just feel Zoe’s spirit soaring on the ecstatic penultimate number, “On the Road”. The wondrous journey comes to an end on the final track, “For Anais” a paean (to these ears at any rate) to a simpler and more peaceful Arcadian world. What a lovely way to end this fine collection!

Dreamland is an eclectic album full of colour, contrast, vim, energy and grace and a worthy addition to the solo piano pantheon.​Reviewed by Geoff Eales

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